


Do You Wanna Build A Snowman...or Five?

by EllenMarieP



Series: Thomas Barrow Christmas Prompts [13]
Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Gen, Happy Thomas Barrow, Snowman, Thomas Barrow is Good With Children, Thomas/Bates friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:01:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28129548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllenMarieP/pseuds/EllenMarieP
Summary: Part 13 of the Christmas prompt challenge.Building a snowman - "What is that?" "His head." "What happened to it?"Thomas builds some snowmen.
Series: Thomas Barrow Christmas Prompts [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2030419
Comments: 14
Kudos: 28
Collections: A Very Thomas Barrow Christmas 2020





	Do You Wanna Build A Snowman...or Five?

**Do You Wanna Build A Snowman…or Five?**

A snowy Christmas at Downton allowed for endless amounts of fun. For the family that meant sitting together in the library having tea by the fire while watching the children through the windows as they played out in the cold with the servants.

It may have been Miss Sybbie’s idea to build a family of snowmen but at this moment it was hard to tell who was having more fun, the children or butler Mr Thomas Barrow. He hadn’t built a snowman for years; he had forgotten how much fun it was, and the snowmen were popping up faster than springtime daisies with delicate carrot noses donated by Mrs Patmore and dark eyes curtesy of the ladies maids’ button boxes. The smiles were a little more questionable, ranging from drunken smiles to cocky smirks, but Thomas couldn’t be held entirely responsible for them as the children were in charge of the facial expressions while he did the building, Andrew was off hunting down arms from the gardens. Now, if only they had enough hats and scarves to go around.

As if on cue, head valet (and only valet) Mr Bates came limping over the snowy lawn, an old laundry bag in hand which was hopefully full of donated clothing for their chilly friends.

“Success Mr Bates?”

“Just about Mr Barrow. A couple of the hats have seen better days, but they’ll do for a snowman.”

“Splendid.”

Bates handed the bag to the nanny so that the clothes could be shared between the children, it wouldn’t do for anyone to miss out on dressing a snowman after all. He then stood for a moment to watch Mr Barrow’s latest creation take shape, a slightly puzzled frown on his face.

“What is that?”

Thomas followed Bates’ gaze to the bundle of snow he’d just added to his biggest snowman yet.

“His head.”

“What happened to it?”

“I modelled it on you, Mr Bates.”

It was a testament to how far they’d come in their relationship with each other that Bates did not take immediate offence at that comment. Instead, he recognised that there was no malice behind the words and looking a the happy grin on his face, Mr Barrow was merely in a good mood and feeling the need to be cheeky.

“How flattering.”

One carrot, several buttons, a woollen scarf and flat cap later and everyone stepped back to admire their joint masterpiece, a family of snowmen featuring a mummy, a daddy and three children of varying ages.

“Excellent work Mr Barrow.”

“Thank you, Mr Bates.”

“How are your hands?”

“I’m not sure. My war wound was hurting but I’ve been completely numb for about an hour now.”

“I’ve left some dry gloves by the fire for you and Daisy was making a fresh pot of tea when I came out.”

“Sounds perfect.”

With that, they waved off a happily tired bunch of children as nanny took them all for a nice warm bath and walked back around the house, an easy silence between them that would once have seemed impossible to achieve.

Another day well spent.


End file.
